Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-03-12
THAT BUNDLE.

About seven years ago my sister, Mrs.
Bowen, was staying I'm Paris for season,
and she had some friends there who made
Paris their home. These friends, Mr..
and Miss Haven, business man and his
daughter, came to America for three
months one April, and among other visits
they made one to mutual friends in the
town in which lived.
called to see them the day after their
arrival They were out, and left town
without returning my call, as they were
there hut day or two, and without sec
ing me or any of my family. / thought
but little Of the matter, though / was
sorry TO have missed them.
A month went by, and one evening, Just
at twilight, one of the ladies of the family
whom they had visited-whom will call
in to see me, and said:
'Oh, only ran in for o minute I've
been trying TO come for a month to ask
you why you never acknowledged the re-
ceipt of that bundle Mr.. Haven brought
over to you from Mrs Bowen"
"What bundler / said. 81 never had
any bundles. never knew that Mrs.
Bowen sent me any bundle"
why you must have it; you must for
get. Mr. Haven sent 1t to you by the
Adams Express from New York as soon
as he landed, and he has thought it very
strange that you never acknowledged it.
And he has got so vexed about it, and
thought it so rude of you not to thank
him for bringing it to you that he wouldn't
ask about it until now, just as he is going
home again, for he wants to tell Mrs.
Bowen you received il"
81 am awfully sorry said; 'but you
know couldn't very well write about
bundle never received and didn't know
had been sent"
"What was in the bundlepn
Ny curiosity was very great, and I lis
tened eagerly for her answer Visions of
all sorts of beautiful things flashed through
my head-gloyes, handkcrchefs, stockings,
perhaps even dress. Could it be raw
| ishing bonnet? | was all ears and all eX-
element
| Miss Haven said she didn't know what
was in the bundle, but she said it felt like
silks or satins. 1t wasn't large bundle"
"Well," ] said, "now where under the
sun is that bundle?"
at might possibly have gone to faith
er's," my husband remarked.
He had dropped his usually all absorb
ing evening paper and was listening to us.
Your father's?' I nearly shricked.
"Dear mel if there is anything absolutely
detestable it is to live in small town
and be the duplicate in name of your
mother-in-law with Junior attached, which
all your friends forget and all your enc
mics as we'll Our dinners have gone to
| 20 Al ln, In, 10,
They have slowed our cherished small
purchases of early Bermuda tomatoes for
salads, read my letters, been Mortified by
my bills, kept my dresses and bonncts u
week or so until they found they were
mine, and now they have got my bundle
/ wish''-and here / rose from my chair
to give emphasis to my words-''yes, l
do wish you had been named Nebuchad-
nezzar; anything but what you are
named"
YES said my husband, ''it Is annoy
ing certainly; but you know even my
mother would hardly have kept u bundle
three months. On the whole it couldn't
have gone there"
/ felt stern rcproof in my husband 8
voice, and l took refuge in remarking
tartly:
'Wcll, what did you suggest it for?"
"If you will wait, Mrs. Smith, said my
husband, rising, ''I'll walk up to father
and just find out positively if the bundle
went there or not. If it didn't, we must
inquire at the express office OF course it
will turn up"
So he went off, and we sat and talked
until he came back, but when he did come
1t was only to say:
"They don't know anything about any
bundle"
We exclaimed, and wondered and sur
missed for little while, and then my hrs-
band went down town and inquired at the
express Office. After he went Mrs. Smith
explained to me that Mr.. Haven, in his
frequent trips across the Atlantic, had been
so bothered by frequent applications from
friends to take over to America various
bundles, sometimes of dutiable goods, which
he was expected to smuggle, that he had
for years made it point to say ''No" to
all such requests from everybody, no matter
from whom they might come; but that my
sister, not being aware of this fact, had
asked him to take the small bundle for
me, and that he had gladly done so. Miss
Haven had described the bundle to Mrs.
| DulllIl. IL was uDOllb ttn lIlCIltS IOuR ny
five wide, and was done up in gray wrap
ping paper and was fully addressed to
me-state, city, street and number, Miss
Haven remembered the bundle wildly,
because when Mrs. Bowen had sent word
that it was small bundle, she judged
that it might perhaps fill up quarter OF
II trunk Of ordinary size, and so had
packed enc of her trunks with reference
to it, and was delightfully."- surprised when
she found that from her point of view il
really was small bundle. 1t was the
only bundle they brought over not theiI
own. They had brought over two or three
gifts for friends, and all had been sent
away at the same time from the Hotel
Brunswick in New York.
Here seemed u Glow that / eagerly
caught.
ut may have gone as n gift to one Of
those friends who just acknowledged re-
ceiving their beautiful present, ETC., and
didn't specify what article had been re
ceived," said
But" said Mrs. Smith, ''the bundle
was addressed to you. They never
changed it at all, but just sent it off. ="
well, y | said, then the express com
pany has mislaid it or lost it, but il
would be real comfort to me to know
what was in that bundle"